Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Academy Raid: Begerton Antares (4)
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The technical advisor for the Extremist Magic Research Society, Begerton Antares, was a superb torture technician acknowledged by all.
His skills were so outstanding at times that victims would confess everything before the torture even began.
Just like the frail old mage now sitting before him with a face drained of all color.
“My dear friend, Cardos. It would be best if you revealed the location of the smuggled relic before the pain begins.”
Swish—.
As usual, the doctor was about to commence torture on Cardos to extract information about the relic.
However, the problem was that Cardos’s reaction was utterly unexpected.
“Otherwise, though it pains me, I’ll have to pull out your fingernails…”
“I’ll tell you everything…!”
“one by one…”
Cardos’s immediate declaration to confess everything.
Blink, blink—.
The doctor’s eyes stared blankly at the principal before him, stunned by the swift surrender.
“This guy gives up too quickly.”
“…….”
“I haven’t even pulled out a single fingernail yet. Is it really okay to give up this soon?”
The doctor gazed at him with eyes lingering on regrets.
They said a swordsman who had reached a certain realm could fell an enemy without even drawing his blade.
It seemed the doctor, through countless tortures, had unknowingly ascended to a similar realm.
The mere intent to torture was enough to end it.
Faced with this anticlimactic scene, the doctor clicked his tongue and vented his dissatisfaction.
“Well, honesty is a virtue, they say. But in cases like this, wouldn’t it be better to resist a little more?”
“I only smuggled it so we could all eat well and live well… What reason do I have to endure torture to protect it…?”
In response, Cardos replied to the doctor with a somewhat forlorn expression.
“Better to stay healthy from the start than to have all my nails and teeth pulled out and then drink an elixir to recover…”
“Wiser than I expected. Well, if you couldn’t even make that judgment, you wouldn’t have lasted in that position this long.”
Even the doctor found it a fairly reasonable argument.
Before the doctor’s eyes, Cardos pointed his finger at a box placed in one corner of the principal’s office.
“I don’t know how you found out about the relic, but it’s in that box down there.”
A box containing documents on ancient relics.
Having shared the story of the materials he had gathered, Cardos looked up at the doctor with a hollow expression.
“Since you reached here without any interference, it seems the entire academy has fallen to some external force.”
“Kekekeke—. You grasp the situation quickly enough.”
“What’s the point of resisting any further? I’ll give you everything you want, so at least guarantee the students’ safety.”
Cardos declared his full cooperation with the doctor and Raintas’s objectives.
On top of that, he even added a plea to ensure the students’ safety.
After pondering Cardos’s words, the doctor soon issued an order to Raintas, who was waiting nearby.
“Raintas. We need to check the contents of that box.”
Creak—.
At the doctor’s command to inspect the contents, Raintas dragged out the box Cardos had mentioned.
“There’s a lot of stuff inside.”
“I sense mana reactions. It’s probably the relic we’re after.”
Ancient texts on elixirs that Cardos had collected over the years.
Neatly stacked documents greeted the doctor’s group warmly.
The doctor pulled out the newly acquired spoils and began examining the contents one by one.
“The documents bundled with it are all related to alchemy too.”
“…….”
“Are there any other related materials left in the academy besides these?”
At the doctor’s probing question, Cardos nodded with a resigned face.
“There are a few sheets left in the other professors’ labs. But compared to what’s in that box, they’re not all that important.”
“Well, doesn’t seem like you’re lying. Raintas, load all this onto the ‘bug.’”
Having tortured people for so long, the doctor was adept at detecting lies.
By his standards, this story was credible enough not to cause issues.
Tap, tap—.
The doctor’s hand, which had been tapping the box’s surface, soon naturally moved toward Cardos’s desk.
It seemed Cardos had been reading before getting trapped in the Spirit Labyrinth, as a crude book lay on the desk.
“You were reading The Pilgrim’s Memoir. Fitting for my dear friend—quite a refined hobby.”
“……Even though it’s under a pseudonym, you recognized the author right away.”
Swish—.
The doctor’s hand picked up the book Cardos had been reading.
It was a crude item made from cheap materials.
On one corner of the book’s cover, a pseudonym signature stood out clearly.
“Well, I’ve ransacked the leader’s bookshelves so many times, how could I not know?”
“……So it was those Magic Research Society bastards.”
“A relatively recent memoir. You must have had incredible luck getting your hands on this.”
After appraising the memoir, the doctor slowly began flipping through it.
Rustle, rustle—.
As the doctor’s fingers turned the pages of the memoir.
Raintas, who had been sorting the box’s contents, spoke up in an intrigued tone.
“Wait, Doctor… That’s not the leader’s book, is it?”
“That’s right, Raintas. One of the leader’s minor digressions during the pilgrimage.”
“Hasn’t the leader’s pilgrimage not ended yet? Without the stars’ guidance, meeting the leader should be impossible—”
“Sometimes the pilgrimage path reaches a city. Whenever that happens, a few volumes of the leader’s memoirs are released into the market.”
Ha—.
A hollow laugh escaped Raintas’s lips.
“Those books circulate in the markets just fine. The church would want to burn them on sight.”
“Well, most are treated as forbidden books and burned. The more interesting the content, the higher the chance.”
Rumble—.
Raintas, lifting the box, approached the chimera that had crossed the hallway.
He tossed the large box into the chimera’s maw.
The chimera, swallowing the heavy box, clamped its mouth shut and shuddered.
“Heading to the underground ruins now?”
“We should at least take a look. Once we arrive, leave guarding the entrance to you, Raintas.”
Tap, tap—.
The back of the doctor’s hand patted the principal’s shoulder.
It was an order for Cardos, the academy principal, to guide them to the underground ruins.
With a deep sigh, Cardos rose from his seat.
“……I’ll guide you to the ruins.”
“Good attitude, friend. Looks like we can build a fine friendship.”
Kekeke—.
The doctor let out a grotesque, chilling laugh toward Cardos.
Just before closing the pilgrim’s memoir to follow Cardos.
The doctor’s gaze took in the words lingering on that final page.
—The saintess of the era, Arianne, is a fake.
It seemed this book had more than enough incendiary content to be branded forbidden and burned.
* * * * * *
The academy corridors shrouded in darkness.
There, a blood-soaked boy gripped his sword, facing off against a monster.
Knight Faculty second-year, Roan Adenov.
He was locked in a fierce battle with the monsters he had encountered in the corridor.
“Haa, ha…!”
Roan’s ragged breaths escaped his lips.
From behind a pillar, Avery’s worried voice reached Roan, who stood in the middle of a pool of blood.
“Roan, are you okay…?”
“Avery, it’s dangerous—stay hidden!”
Roan warned her not to come out from behind the pillar.
The number of monsters Roan faced in the corridor was three.
Two had already fallen to his sword, leaving the last one glaring at him.
Having dissuaded Avery from joining the fight, Roan raised his trembling sword and fixed his gaze on the enemy.
—Keeek—?
A chimera with enormous eyes rampaged through the academy’s interior.
The barrier’s interior was engulfed in thick darkness, patrolled by chimeras lurking within.
The academy now resembled hell itself, no matter how you looked at it.
And in this hellscape, only two students remained conscious.
Avery and Roan.
In other words, Roan was the only one who could protect Avery here.
“Damn monsters… Why the hell did they suddenly show up in the academy…!”
Kee-eeek—!
Roan’s eyes, tense with focus, began analyzing the battlefield as he faced the monster.
The enemy before him numbered one.
But presences stirred from farther distances.
Clearly, the monster’s comrades were still prowling the academy.
“…….”
Roan’s sharp gaze never left the monster for a moment.
Scritch—.
The monster observing Roan charged toward him at great speed.
Soon after, Roan raised his sword against it.
—Kee-eeek—!
The monster’s rushing strike.
Roan’s sword whipped out at blinding speed to meet it.
Clang, clang—!
The crisp clash of metal deflected the enemy’s attack.
Following that, Roan’s blade swiftly pierced the monster’s vital point.
“———!”
Crunch—!
A gruesome sound of rending flesh echoed through the darkness.
Roan’s sword had pierced the chimera’s flesh, halting its life functions completely.
Yet even with the enemy down, Roan showed no sign of relief.
“Avery! We have to run before the others catch up!”
“……Roan!”
Swish—.
He grabbed the hand of Avery, who had been hiding behind the pillar.
Then, he bolted in the opposite direction from where the monsters had appeared.
‘I don’t know how many enemies are hiding in the darkness, and I don’t have time to fight them one by one!’
The darkened academy was no longer a place for students.
It had been seized by unidentified forces.
A beast pen where their chimeras roamed freely.
And Roan and Avery were little more than hunted prey.
Tadak, tadak—.
Their frantic footsteps echoed through the silent corridor.
“R-Roan… Where are you heading…?”
“We need outside help. There should be a communication orb somewhere in the academy.”
“Who are we asking for help…?”
“Anyone—we’ll send a message. Then find a spot to hide from the monsters until help arrives.”
Most people inside the academy could be considered incapacitated.
Even seeking professors for aid offered no guarantee they were conscious.
So, Roan’s plan was to use a communication orb to call for external help.
Roan gripped Avery’s hand even tighter.
Just as he was about to press onward down the corridor with her.
Squeeze—.
Suddenly, Avery grabbed Roan’s hand and stopped in place.
“……Avery?”
“You know, Roan. I once saw a professor using a secret passage in the academy.”
Right after Roan’s puzzled voice rang out.
Avery brought up something he hadn’t anticipated at all.
“It was a space used by the alchemy faculty professors, and I accidentally spotted an entrance leading underground…”
“A secret passage? The academy has something like that?”
“I don’t know exactly where it leads, but wouldn’t hiding there keep us safe from the monsters?”
A secret passage known only to professors.
That was what Avery revealed.
Hearing about the secret passage, Roan’s mind raced.
‘If we use a secret passage, we might move without interference.’
If only a few academy professors used it, outsiders couldn’t possibly know of its existence.
Using the passage Avery found could free them from the monsters’ attacks, at least.
Such a possibility flashed through Roan’s mind.
After brief deliberation, Roan soon spoke to Avery.
“Alright, Avery. Let’s go there.”
“…….”
“If it’s a passage only professors know, those monsters probably won’t find it.”
Was she pleased with Roan’s decision?
Avery nodded with a bright smile.
“Just trust me, Roan!”
Clink—.
Watching her, Roan sheathed his sword in the scabbard at his waist.
No matter what, he had to protect Avery.
That was his knightly honor.
* * * * * *
In the end, Roan and Avery’s call for rescue ended in failure.
The communication orb they found in the alchemy faculty wouldn’t work properly.
For some reason, Avery’s orb couldn’t even connect externally.
On top of that, their ambitious plan to hide in the secret passage to evade the monsters also came to naught.
A prior visitor stood at the entrance to the secret passage they reached.
“…….”
Before the silent secret passage entrance.
A man with a sword at his side looked at the two.
Swish—.
His gaze, as if honed by a lifetime wielding blades, coldly pierced Roan and Avery.
“Rats have slipped in.”
Clink—.
Roan’s hand gripped the sword at his waist.
It seemed that in fleeing the monsters, they had stumbled upon a far more dangerous foe.